Faculty/Author Profile

Melissa Allain

Castro Valley, CA, USA

Melissa Allain has advised and represented organizations in governance, risk and compliance as legal counsel, ethics officer, board member and consultant. She is currently an associate general counsel and director of ethics and compliance at Avnet, Inc., a global technology distributor and services provider headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. There Melissa is responsible for managing and implementing Avnet’s global ethics and compliance program in the Americas and Caribbean, ensuring that the program is both relevant and effective for the region. She also leads cross-functional endeavors on global compliance initiatives, and advises her internal clients on various supply chain management issues.

Melissa previously served in a variety of legal and compliance leadership roles with non-profit organizations and public companies, including general counsel to King Abdullah Petroleum Studies & Research Center in Riyadh and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and chief compliance counsel to Tyco Fire & Security. She conducted environmental due diligence in mergers and acquisitions at AutoNation where she also expanded environmental, health and safety compliance into a comprehensive ethics and compliance program.

Before moving in-house, Melissa engaged in private practice, culminating as a principal at one of the oldest law firms in Los Angeles. She represented clients in a wide variety of environmental, health and safety regulatory proceedings, and resolved toxic torts and natural resources litigation in federal and state courts. She also conducted compliance audits and training to improve workplace safety and environmental protection.

Melissa is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and Harvard Law School, where she served as managing editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review and published an article on the environmental implications of synthetic fuels. She shares her family’s enthusiasm for travel and learning about other cultures.